Max Verstappen wins chaotic Qatar GP as Lando Norris penalised

Max Verstappen won a scrappy Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit, which featured three safety cars and a stop-go penalty for Lando Norris while he was running in second place.

The result, which saw Ferrari outscore McLaren by nine points, means the constructors' championship is still alive heading into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Norris' 10-second stop-go penalty, which was issued for failing to slow under double yellow flags when Alex Albon's wing mirror detached from his car and came to rest in the middle of the track, saw him drop from second place behind Verstappen to the back of the field.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was promoted to second place as a result of the penalty, with Oscar Piastri securing third for McLaren and Norris recovering to 10th place and scoring a point with the fastest lap.

The result narrows the gap between McLaren at the top of the standings and Ferrari in second place to 21 points, with 44 up for grabs in Abu Dhabi.

Leclerc said afterwards: "I'm really happy, I mean honestly I would have signed a paper that told me that we will finish second after a weekend like this. Especially on a track like this because our car characteristics is not fitting very well with this track and we knew it was going to be a difficult weekend compared to McLaren.

"But in the end we managed to take some points from them so yeah the fight will be all the way to the last race in Abu Dhabi next week."

Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

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Verstappen won Sunday's race by 6.0 seconds at the chequered flag, securing his ninth race victory of the season after clinching this year's drivers' title at last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver, who was stripped of pole position for driving unnecessarily slowly during a preparation lap in qualifying, took the lead from George Russell at the first corner and then held it for the remainder of the race.

After the race, Verstappen said: "Yesterday in qualifying the car was a lot better and today, that first stint was very, very fast, Lando and I doing 1.8 seconds off each other the whole time and pushing each other, it was honestly a lot of fun out there.

"I'm very happy it's been a long while in the drive and to be this competitive and I'm very proud of everyone in the team to turn it around within a day so they definitely deserve this victory."

A series of safety cars, triggered by Albon's mirror being hit by Valtteri Bottas and spreading debris across the track on Lap 34, saw Verstappen come under pressure at restarts from Norris but held him off each time.

The debris appeared to cause front-left punctures for Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, which finally convinced new race director Rui Marques to bring out the first safety car on Lap 36.

The opportunity to pit under the safety car saw Leclerc shuffled ahead of Piastri, who had pitted just before, and take second place for Ferrari when Norris was issued with his penalty.

"It was a tricky race," third-placed Piastri said. "The cars at the front seemed to have similar pace to each other. It was really tough to make inroads to get to DRS and then fire in to the DRS overtakes, a couple of good moments with Charles out there and nice to end up on the podium, but not quite the result we were looking for."

After a difficult race, Russell took fourth place for Mercedes ahead of Pierre Gasly, who secured fifth place and crucial points for his Alpine team in its battle for sixth in the constructors' championship against Haas and RB. Russell was later given a five-second penalty and one penalty point for failing to maintain a 10-car length distance behind the safety car, but he maintains his fourth place with the gap to Gasly.

Sainz recovered to sixth place after his puncture, ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh and Zhou Guanyu for Sauber in eighth, who scored his team's first points of the season.

Kevin Magnussen finished ninth for Haas, with Norris moving up from 15th after his penalty to 10th at the finish.

After a weekend in which he questioned his own lack of speed in sprint qualifying, Lewis Hamilton struggled throughout the race and finally finished 12th after receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

The final round of the 2024 season will be held in Abu Dhabi next weekend.